Generating Ideas for Problems Solving – Action Management Associates

Creative problem solving beyond brainstorming.

Brainstorming. We’ve all done it thousands of times. When groups face a problem that requires new and creative ideas, someone often suggests a brainstorming session. It is perhaps the tool most often used for generating ideas. Unfortunately, it is also the most misused tool for creative problem solving.

In nearly 30 years of facilitating problem solving workshops, the consultants at Action Management Associates have heard a lot about brainstorming. Many participants in our workshops complain that brainstorming, while being a valid tool for thinking outside the box, is too-often used by boxed-in thinkers. We hear comments such as “ideas are shot down before they have a chance,” or “nothing ever happens once the ideas are generated,” or even more commonly “half-way through the session, someone chooses the idea he likes the best, and then that one becomes our de-facto ‘best idea.’”

Action Management Associates has developed a system of solving problems that includes the best concepts of brainstorming, but goes far beyond that one technique to help individuals and teams tackle complex issues and generate more alternatives than they ever dreamed possible. Our Creative Problem Solving Process is designed to first reduce the complexity of problems that seem nearly impossible, and then to generate a wide array of innovative ideas to address the problem’s core issues. It’s a new take on an old idea that is helping companies leapfrog their own goals to achieve success that was once a pipe-dream.